The Labour stalwart was defending Labour’s record in power as the election battle intensified for Coventry South.

Standing next to Labour candidate and long-standing MP Jim Cunningham, he told about 50 passers-by his party had surpassed its pledges to improve public services since 1997.

The former transport secretary, who is retiring at this election, also told the Telegraph he hoped Coventry and Warwickshire people opposed to a high speed rail line through villages and countryside could eventually be persuaded of its merits to the whole region’s economy.

He said: “There was a similar argument about a new toll road in north Warwickshire. People didn’t want it near them. They see the importance of it now.”